RusEnergy

Moscow, December 14 (RIA Novosti) - Yuganskneftegaz, the main production subsidiary of state-owned oil company Rosneft, is to produce 56 mln mt (1.12 mln bbl/d) of crude in 2006, Rosneft said Wednesday. The figure is slightly below the 57 mln mt target that Sergei Bulba, the head of Yuganskneftegaz, gave last month, but would represent an increase of as much as 12% from current output levels. The firm produced 38 mln mt in the first nine months of 2005. Yuganskneftegaz aims to reach its peak production level of 70 mln mt/yr within the next five years, Bulba has said. The output level is set out in an agreement signed Wednesday in Moscow by Rosneft, Yuganskneftegaz and the government of West Siberia's Khanti-Mansiysk autonomous region, where Yuganskneftegaz is based. The agreement also envisages natural gas production of 1.4 bln cu m. Capital investment is to reach 40.3 bln rubles ($1.4 bln), up from 30 bln rubles this year. The agreement also requires the firm to spend 265 mln rubles on "social and cultural" projects in the Khanty-Mansiysk region.